Faizan stuns Shahram, Sharjeel thwarts Babar in NBP Ranking Snooker

KARACHI: Mohammad Faizan shocked eighth seed Shahram Changezi, while Sharjeel Mahmood surprised tenth ranked Babar Masih on the second day of the 9th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2017 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Wednesday.

Sharjeel, hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, overpowered Babar of Punjab in their Group G encounter, while Faizan of Sindh turned the tables on Shahram of Islamabad in Group H.

With the top quintet of Mohammad Sajjad, Asjad Iqbal, Khurram Hussain Agha, Nadir Miran and Shahid Aftab enjoying a break from the table, sixth seed Sohail Shahzad and seventh seed Mohammad Ahsan Javaid extended their unbeaten run in the competition as did the defending champion Mohammad Asif who also chalked up a classy break of 111.

The ninth ranked Mohammad Bilal, who had found himself at the receiving end on the opening day, came back into the reckoning by winning both his matches on the second day.

Rated as one of the top cueists of the country, Bilal encountered no problems whatsoever in thrashing Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir in straight frames but he was taken to full five frames by the dangerous Mohammad Faizan.

Among the unseeded cueists, the enigmatic Abu Saim hit his top form, while downing Umar Farooq. After building breaks of 78 and 61 in the earlier frames he signed off with a superlative break of 101.

Meanwhile, the 34 participating cueists, divided into eight groups, will continue to be engaged in the preliminary rounds for a couple of more days at the end of which top two cueists from each of the eight groups will be advancing to the knockout phase starting with the pre-quarter-finals.

The championship offers prize money of Rs150,000 with the winner assured of getting a purse of Rs60,000 while the runner-up will be receiving Rs35,000. The losing semi-finalists will be presented Rs15,000 each while the losing quarter-finalists will be compensated with Rs5,000 each and highest break award will also be worth Rs5,000.

The qualifying round matches will be best of seven frame contests, while the pre-quarter-finals and quarter-finals will be best of nine frame encounters. The semi-finals will be best of 11-frame duels, while the final will be best of 15-frame affair.

Results: Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Munawwar Khaliq (Isb) 4-0 (72-18, 85-17, 81-13, 57-22); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KPK) 4-0 (61-53, 113-12, 64-43, 64-23); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-2 (70-60, 43-92, 84-1, 81-28, 7-76, 72-42); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Umar Farooq (Pjb) 4-0 (112-7, 115-0, 89-29, 74-42); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-1 (50-60, 77-34, 65-47, 68-18, 76-17); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 4-1 (75-35, 21-57, 60-25, 51-28, 82-54); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb) 4-0 (54-21, 68-20, 65-39, 71-23); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-1 (66-24, 56-42, 25-74, 49-28, 65-47); Shahid Shafiq (Pjb) bt Amir Sohail (KPK) 4-2 (14-73, 66-38, 112-4, 19-49, 76-17, 56-18); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-0 (76-45, 95-22, 66-23, 109-19); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Umar Farooq (Pjb) 4-2 (78-1, 42-66, 53-56, 62-30, 109-14, 102-30); Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-2 (86-20, 54-65, 16-77, 61-24, 63-9, 81-8); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-3 (59-33, 29-59, 19-59, 64-22, 14-78, 59-25, 60-36); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb) 4-0 (69-36, 53-43, 87-18, 84-25).